A couple weeks ago, Drew and I tried making our own liquid soap. It turned out really well! You can make a whole lot of liquid soap (almost two orange juice containers full!) out of any bar of soap! A much better deal for the money!
Here is what you need:
-cheese grater
-funnel
-2 Tablespoons liquid glycerin (found in the band-aid aisle) (may have to adjust this if using larger bar of soap)
-1 bar of soap (mine was 5 oz, but you can also use 8 oz)
-10 cups of water (16 cups if using 8 oz bar of soap)
-1 teaspoon vitamin E ointment (optional — I just added this because it is good for your skin)
Directions:
1. Grate your bar of soap.
2. Fill large pot with water, add soap shavings, add glycerin, and vitamin E.
3. Heat all ingredients until dissolved. It will basically just look like soapy water.
4. Let cool overnight, or at least 12 hours or so. Then you end up with this:
5. Then take a hand mixer (or an immersion blender would really work better) and mix it all up.
6. Use a funnel to pour into plastic storage containers. I used leftover Simply Orange and Simply Lemonade plastic jugs.
We’ve been using it for several weeks now and I really like it. I love the smell of the Dr. Bronners Citrus Orange bar soap we used! The consistency turned out just right and it is a lot of soap for the price of one bar of soap!
I’d like to try this for body wash next! :)
DIY Colored Glass Bottles
I love glass bottles. I know I’ve said that before, but I just think that they are so pretty. I also have a love for mason jars. I like their history and rustic nature, while still being pretty.
For the wedding, I’m going for a classy/elegant look with touches of antique/rustic elements. I think both glass and mason jars fit well into that scheme. I’m going for a look similar to these images from my :
I really like the mixture of glass, candlelight, simple colorful arrangements of flowers, the textures of the burlap runner and jute and lace on the jars, and even the vintage books. I really like the antique blue mason jars in the bottom photo and would love to have some colored glass jars mixed in with the clear ones. Since antique blue mason jars can be kind of expensive depending on their rarity, I decided to try and see if I could find a way to color clear jars myself.
After a little research, I saw that people had tried this in various ways, but that most recipes used Mod Podge, water and food coloring. I decided to try it out on several old jars my mom had at home. (an old jelly jar, a clear wine bottle, an old olive jar and a small candle holder to be exact) I liked the antique blue color, but I had more red food coloring than blue and pink-coral hues fit in better with my wedding color scheme, so I decided to try for a pink/salmon/coral color. Here is what I did:
1. Wash and rinse glass jars, making sure that all of the labels and stickiness are removed from the outside. Let dry completely.
2. In a paper cup or other disposable container, combine preferred amount of Mod Podge (I used probably about half a cup or so for 4 jars of various sizes and had some leftover), about a tablespoon of water and stir in food coloring until the desired color is reached.
3. Set jars (I did mine upside down) on a paper plate, old newspaper or other work surface and using a small sponge brush or paintbrush, spread mixture onto the outside of the jars. (I read several recipes that did the inside of the jars instead, pouring the mixture inside and turning until coated completely, but I also read that if done on the inside, you couldn’t use water in them.)
4. Place jars on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil (so you don’t ruin it) and place in the oven and bake on the lowest setting your oven offers (mine was 175 degrees) until all the coating is dry and has turned from a cloudy color to a clear one. (If you wish, you can also put a second coat on and bake again for a deeper color.) If your jars are sticky, you might need to bake them longer.
5. Let cool and use for decoration! (I’ve also heard of people spraying these with a sealer of some sort, so you may do that also if you wish.)
So what did I end up with? I ended up with this:
Aren’t they pretty? I love the way they look with the light shining through them. They aren’t perfect though. If you look closely, you can see streaks from the coloring stuff and you can see the sticky mess along the tops from the mixture running down and sticking to the foil on the cookie sheet. At the wedding, they obviously wouldn’t have the same flowers in them, but I do think that here and there they could add pretty color and interest amongst other clear jars on the tables, don’t you think?
Of all the rooms in the house that have gotten updates lately, the laundry room definitely tops the list. A lot has been going on in there.
To refresh your memory, here is what it looked like when we moved in:
We immediately had the dryer plug (that is laying across the washer) fixed with a longer cord to go around the washer to avoid any electrical + water issues. We also majorly scrubbed the tile floor because they were ridiculously filthy. We also moved our deep freezer in here so that now it sits in front of the dryer.
I know it definitely isn’t the prettiest room in the house and it probably never will be. It is the room that we spend the least amount of time in, so I didn’t want us to spend a ton of money fixing it up right now. What does matter though, is that it is functional. It needs to house the laundry stuff, the utility stuff, the cleaning supplies, the tools, the extra toilet paper, paper towels and light bulbs… etc. We also needed to hang the blinds in there (you can see the box of them in the foreground of the above picture) that the previous owner left but never hung. I also already had teal colored curtains from my freshman college dorm room days that matched the laundry room tiles perfectly to hang in there. We also wanted to make the shelving on the wall a little more practical than it currently was.
So what did we do?
We started by hanging the blinds and the curtains. (which still need to be ironed, I know)
Then we sought a replacement for this tremendously ugly, dysfunctional and crooked shelf. (That is lacking in the storage department)
But first we had to take the old one down. Which left us with this ugly mess.
However, we quickly made the most of our storage space with three longer and cleaner looking shelves with slightly smaller brackets than the ones used on the previous wonky shelf.
Then I did my best to cover up the old paint marks with some mixed white and cream craft paint.
Oh how amazingly convenient is this quick change. Now there is plenty of room for laundry supplies, cleaning supplies, ironing equipment, tools, toilet paper, paper towels, light bulbs… Ahh, how I love having things organized.
But our laundry room changes don’t stop there. We took this makeover a step farther.
We added a new washer and dryer. Well, new to us at least.
This wasn’t high on our priority list, but it kind-of just happened. There is a girl from our hometown that has lived in New Orleans for several years and is getting ready to move to Texas. Her new apartment already had a washer and dryer, so she had no need for her old ones. Her mom is friends with mine, so her mom asked mine if we might want to buy her used ones from her. We already had a washer and dryer that we bought for really cheap from the previous owner of our apartment and the washer was newer and worked fine, but we were a little worried about the really old dryer. We had some problems with it not working when we first moved in, but Drew eventually got it to work. However, we thought we had better not pass up a good deal on these two almost brand new, matching, taken well care-of appliances. (especially since we thought our dryer might not hold up too much longer and we wouldn’t have an opportunity like this later)
Doesn’t it look so much neater, cleaner, better and more organized?
We do still need to find a nice rug to go in front of the washer and dryer though. You can see in the foreground of the last picture that there is a random metal thing that sticks slightly out of the floor right in front of the washer. Overall though, I’m so pleased with the transformation of this room so far!
What do you think?
Have you ever needed to wax your eyebrows but the only mirror in the entire house was in the bathroom? Said bathroom being only big enough for one human being, let alone a table or other flat surface to set the wax machine on. Well if you’ve ever been in this situation and have been yearning for a solution to this problem, I have it for you.
All you’ll need is a cookie sheet, some aluminum foil, clear packing tape and a few paper towels.
First– line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
Second– place the cookie sheet so that it sits directly on top of the sink, with the lip of the cookie sheet behind the faucets.
Third– use packing tape to secure the cookie sheet to the sink top, so that there are no wax machine slipping/tipping related accidents.
Fourth– fold a couple paper towels so that they sit below the faucets and absorb any random droplets of water that may drip to avoid getting water on any electrical appliances such as wax machine.
Fifth– Set wax machine on newly made table top and plug it in. I think you know what to do from here.
Good thing about this whole set up is that it is easily dis-mountable and the objects can again part and go their separate ways.
In case you didn’t follow the written directions, I’ve created a visual so you can get a better sense of how to create your very own wax machine stand. Just do as shown:
*By choosing to engage in this stated venture, you do hereby take full responsibility for the repercussions regarding the stability of your structure and all other wax related encounters that may occur from said venture. Icing on the Cake cannot be held responsible for any related accidents nor do we advocate this method as being foul fool proof.*
Happy Waxing!
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